My first day back in Cairo was a bit of clean up action.
I returned to the Giza plateu to a look inside the Great
Pyramid and the Solar Boat museum. I wasn't too thrilled
about the Great Pyramid. It is empty and undecorated.
Further, the shafts leading to Queens Chamber and the
Unfinished Chamber were locked and guards seemed
uninterested in their usual scam of opening up locked doors
for bakhsheesh. All it all, probably not worth the 40 pounds
to get in.

The solar boat was interesting but not greatly so. It's
pretty amazing how they put it all together. But that is
an intellectual pursuit and seeing the boat in person doesn't
add much.

I was hoping that more of the Sphinx would be open but it
was much the same as before.

Yesterday, was a trip to
North Saqqara to see the grand daddy
of all pyramids:
Zozer's Step Pyramid. North Saqqara is not
an easy place to get to. While transit does serve the area,
it can only be reached by cobbling together multiple unlabeled
buses with unknowable routes. Taxis can get rather expensive
if you expect them to wait for you.

So I took a hybrid approach: A taxi in the morning, one way
and I would just have to figure out how to get back. I found
a taxi willing to take the 20 pound fare but it soon became
obvious that he didn't really know where we were going. He
must have stopped a dozen times to ask for directions, the
last time being less than 5K from the destination. Towards
the end he tried to up the fare but I held firm to our
agreement and I reached my destination without issue.

The
Step Pyramid and other in the vicinity are reasonably worth
seeing. (Well, IMHO, not seeing the Step Pyramid would have been
just wrong). There are also various
Old Kingdom tombs.
Unlike
the New Kingdom, the Old Kingdom didn't hide their tombs. The
ones at Saqqara are mostly above ground and look a bit like
temples. There are some nice detailed
reliefs in some of the
tombs, similar to the temple at Abydos. It's a nice surprise.
Now I wonder why the interior of the Great Pyramid is plain.
Some of the subject matter is interesting too. Crocodiles, hippos
gazelles. You don't see these much in New Kingdom reliefs.
I wonder if this is due to changes in the natural environment
between Old Kingdom and New.

I finished up around 3:00pm: A little early but not enough time
to go anywhere else. I walked back into the village of Saqqara.
I soon found a local who advised me to turn left and then catch
a bus back to Cairo. After about 15 minutes I finally reached
an road that went left. Sure enough, there were unlabeled
minibuses there. Another local showed me which one to take.
This bus didn't go to the Cairo exactly. It took me to another
bus stop where I was advised to take a second unlabeled minibus.
This one took me to the Metro Station in Giza. From there,
getting back to Cairo was straight forward.

Today I set off for Dashur
to see the Bent
Pyramid and
anything else in area. The plan was pretty much the same as
yesterday: take a taxi to the site and return by whatever
means seem to work.

I found a taxi who seemed willing to take the fare at a
reasonable price. (He said 13 pounds and I was prepared to pay
the going rate of 20 pounds) Much like yesterday, he spoke
little English and didn't seem to really know where Dashur was.
(Why taxi drivers are willing to take a fare to a place they are
not familiar with is beyond me) By the time we reached Giza,
he had asked enough people that he understood where we were going.
Then he wanted 100 pounds. He claimed it was 150 kilometers.
I could see from that map that it was less than 1/3 that distance.
In the end, he was unwilling to accept a fare that was
reasonable (or even payable given that taxi drivers never give
change). I got out of the car.

The next driver was just as unreasonable so I decided
taxis were not the way today. 'Trouble is, I was somewhere
unknown in Giza where few people spoke much English.
Amazingly enough, I was able to find a Metro station
nearby. Between the subway, 2 minibuses, and a pickup,
I managed to reach the gate at Dashur. It took nearly
3 hours but it only cost me 7 pounds and the people were
much more agreeable than the taxi drivers.
The Bent Pyramid
is unique in two ways: It rises more
steeply than any other and then halfway up, changes to
a shallower angle. It also has most of the original
limestone casing stones. It is very striking rising
out of the sands as it does. Definitely worth the 2K
walk from the Red Pyramid.

The Red Pyramid is sort of a prototype of the Great Pyramid.
The sides have shallower angles and it is 10 meters shorter
than the Great Pyramid, making it the second largest of all
the Egyptian pyramids. Unlike the Great Pyramid though,
which is always crawling with tourists, the Red Pyramid is
visited by only a handful of tours each day. When I
climbed to the entrance, all the tours were out to lunch or
something. I spent probably 10 minutes, maybe more,
completely alone inside the pyramid. As I exited, a tour
of about 20 was coming up.

Probably 2k from the Bent Pyramid is the core of the
Black
Pyramid. It doesn't look like much more than a steeper than
normal lump of dirt. I took a couple of photos from afar
but did not approach. The pyramids of South Saqqara are
also visible. They are about 6K away and not in good shape.
'Worth a telephoto shot but probably not worth the travel
and entry ticket. Not this time, anyway.

I returned to Cairo much the way I came. A local minibus
went to somewhere in Giza and then I took another bus to
across the river to Cairo.

Shortly after midnight tonight, I get on an 8 hour bus to
Dahab for a few days of staring at fishes. I have decided
not to do Petra (Jordan) on this trip. There just isn't
enough time to do it right. I will save it for later.
What I will do, probably, is bring in my return flight a
few days. This will give me enough time to do Great
Zimbabwe and a quick safari in Kruger National Park.
Zimbabwe appears to be safe at the moment. The action
is happening in the courts rather than the street.